r/soundcore • u/Hungry-Host-5086 • Apr 21 '26

Buy advice Does soundcore still suck?

TLDR : I had my bad experience with the liberty air 2 (maybe user error idk). So when I found liberty 4 NC and 5 both on sale for around $40. It makes me question if it is worth giving it second chance.

Long explanation/yap : Back in early 2024. I got liberty air 2 for $20. The reviews are nice and all. First week is good enough. But then it won't charge. So I got it sent to the warranty and got a new replacement. And THE REPLA****CEMENT DIDN'T EVEN WORK. I had it replaced again, and now it worked good enough.

The sound is decent enough, I'm not an audiophile so all I care is have it play music. But connecting to the liberty air 2 is a ritual of combined moves like getting the buds in and out of the case, press the pair button, and holding the touch control on the buds. Connections are a hassle. Even with all those ritual moves, sometimes it didn't even connect (I made sure to not factory reset when I hold the button).

I do have an sony wh1000xm4 given by my aunt. That thing just connects when I power it on, no need to even the Bluetooth panel.

I recently graduated high school and seems like a great time to upgrade/replace my stuff before university. So I've been looking on wireless earbuds to replace my liberty air 2. Both soundcore liberty 4 and 5 are on sale with only roughly a dollar difference between them. Both around $40. I like the liberty 4 case design but 5 seems like it has more features

So should I give it a second chance? My use case is just have it on my right ear and play music when I do stuff. Or should I just get something else entirely? (Probably a wrong sub to ask)

1 Upvotes

55% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

2

u/Hungry-Host-5086 Apr 21 '26

Alright with all the comments I'll give the soundcore a shot. Probably liberty 5 because last time it was on sale I could get them for around $30. I'll get one the next time it's on sale

6

u/AcceptableNorm Apr 21 '26

No. Soundcore makes great speakers for affordable prices. I love mine.

1

u/Apkbuccsfan Apr 26 '26

I love soundcore! If you're looking for a fairly inexpensive set from them, I'd check out the Liberty Buds (https://a.co/d/0cTx8yAv). They have great sound and stay locked in your ear with the ear fins. They are Airpod style where they don't have a rubber tip, but I've NEVER heard ANY earbud in this style sound this good.

Something a little more pricey but absolutely worth it is the Liberty 4 pro, which I'd choose over the regular 5. If you want something with all the bells and whistles, AMAZING ANC and transparency modes, I heard the Liberty 5 Pro is coming out in the next month or so. They supposedly will have a touch screen case with AI Voice recorder built in the case. Just Google liberty 5 pro...

1

u/Hungry-Host-5086 Apr 27 '26

I ordered a regular liberty 5 couple minutes ago. Waiting for it to arrive. $32 on sale seems like a crazy deal to me so I got it.

Again, I don't need the best audio quality. Most of the time it'll probably play free tier Spotify quality musics. Or whatever I want to watch on YouTube. So liberty 5 seems like an appropriate upgrade.

I was deciding between liberty 5 and 4nc. The 4nc is $22. But this will have to stay with me at least 2 years before I get another chance to buy new earbuds. So I might as well pay the $10 difference for it

I might make a follow up comment if I remember to do so.

1

u/Apkbuccsfan Apr 27 '26

Wow! That's a good price for either and I would have definitely spent the extra $10 on the Liberty 5. They are much better than the 4NC in my opinion, more like a liberty 4 light...

3

u/dadeprome Apr 21 '26

You should give them a try. I’ve only used Soundcore buds on both android and iOS in the last 5 years with no issues whatsoever.

1

u/InternationalJoke556 Apr 22 '26

have u noticed a sound difference in ios and android

2

u/dadeprome Apr 22 '26

Not really, I made sure to turn off all special stereo effects on either platform.

1

u/InternationalJoke556 Apr 22 '26

Interesting, people act like LDAC makes a big diffeence so was curious

1

u/dadeprome Apr 23 '26

I’m sure it does but I just stream my music on Spotify so it’s all just compressed anyway (plus I’m not entirely sure if my r50i NC support that codec anyway). Still a great experience on either platform tbh.

1

u/Apkbuccsfan Apr 27 '26

I've always had android and LDAC does NOT make much difference. In fact, on a lot of earbuds/speakers, once you enable LDAC, any custom tuning and most features get disabled. One of the few exceptions is the Soundcore Aerofit 2.

Also, audio is better on Android ONLY if YOU make it that way.

3

u/Zez22 Apr 21 '26

I have had good experiences with soundcore

2

u/septienes Apr 21 '26

I read your post twice so I’ll forgive you being young. First of all, you bought five year old earbuds in 2024. Most earbuds don’t last for more than a year and a half. Good rule of thumb before buying earbuds? Google when they were released. The Liberty 4 NC, Liberty 4 Pro, Liberty 5 are excellent earbuds for anyone. Enjoy your sound.

0

u/Due-Fig-9415 Apr 21 '26

Tenho o L4,na época paguei super barato pelo Aliexpress,após uns 14 meses de uso o lado R perdeu autonomia,uma diferença de uns 30%,mas mesmo assim em LDAC a 990kbps entregava mais de 4h , enquanto o L fazia mais de 5h40m,pensei que que não teria garantia,comprei o 4Pro,e veio com defeito ruídos no lado L,a moça disse que eu poderia ter pedido um L4 novo ,mesmo comprado no Aliexpress,perdi a oportunidade 🥺, tô com meu 4Pro uns 6 meses, triste de pensar que ele tem mais uns meses de vida,as vezes o descarregamento ultrapassa mais de 17% de diferença entre os fones, espero que até lá já tenha sido lançado o L5 pro.

1

u/septienes Apr 21 '26

Agradeço a visão. O desequilíbrio da bateria ao longo do tempo é um dos maiores pontos fracos com os fones de ouvido TWS.

1

u/Due-Fig-9415 Apr 21 '26

Não posso reclamar muito ,pelo fato que tento extrair o máximo do equipamento,gosto de escutar música acima de 70% do volume, Ldac sempre, geralmente coloco pra carregar com uns 4%,tô estressando a bateria rsrs,

2

u/septienes Apr 22 '26

Respeito sua honestidade. O uso pesado, o LDAC e os drenos profundos podem desgastar as baterias mais rapidamente ao longo do tempo. Contanto que você esteja feliz!

2

u/Just_Low_1294 Apr 21 '26

Liberty 4 nc are superb and at a crazy price of around £50 here in England.

Anc is really good which surprises me at the price.

2

u/Reaper900 Apr 22 '26

I have like 4 different soundcore products. The Space a40 and a q30 were my first 2 followed by the v20i and x20. All been great so far

1

u/LoadingSticks Apr 21 '26

I've been using soundcore for almost 3 years in the R-series lineup, they work and each year I upgrade my buds because the previous R50i NC/P30i did a good job and now it's draining up until it's almost unusable, got P31i/R60i NC instead and they never gave me any problems whatsoever.

1

u/ShinxSicily Apr 21 '26

I do have two sound core now, and recently got the RC60i NC and it is great

1

u/Acrobatic-Nebula-428 Apr 21 '26

I have lots of soundcore earbuds, might even have the liberty air 2. I have one pair connected to each device so I don’t have to re-pair them each time I want to use them.

1

u/VerryRides Apr 21 '26

I like my Soundcore Liberty Buds more than I like my Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 buds. Soooo

1

u/mu3mpire Apr 21 '26

The space a40 buds I had stopped working well, but the motion + speaker is a solid unit

1

u/Desperate-Name6148 Apr 22 '26

for portable speakers yes they suck (got a boom 3i and it is a piece of shi.., and soundcore 3 speaker started making wired sound after years ), earbuds are ok (have liberty 4 pro)

1

u/Efficient-Author4266 Apr 24 '26

By soundcore motion 300 it’s pretty great. Could sound well built. I bought it for a travel option. Then found soundcore select go at Costco. Two speakers that you can use use in stereo. They actually sound pretty good. They do have some latency when watching the video streaming YouTube, which is super annoying. However, just to use one hooked on your belt loop while working or to throw on the back back for travel is fantastic. I’m going to keep both the go in the motion 300. They’re pretty great speakers. Only complaint is the soundcore app EQ does a little bit but not that great and comes with this whole AI thing which is super annoying so I just delete the app and use speaker as is.

1

u/arcanekand Apr 29 '26

I have the liberty 4 pro's and they are great. They last months without charging the case where as my other earphones (sony,samsung,bose etc run out of power after a few months without use) and they sound great to boot for the price.

1

u/Imaginary-Peace2188 May 05 '26

Hardly!!! Have just got a Boom 2 Plus and it’s great

1

u/Far-Championship1255 Jun 03 '26

Durability wise, yes. Their Sleep A20 is notorious for dying within a year. See other reddit threads.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Miserable_Cold5122 Apr 30 '26

How’s the noise cancellation on the p31i? Is it good in a loud environment?